Ruling Court held off big-race favourite Field Of Gold to give Charlie Appleby his third Betfred 2000 Guineas win in four years at Newmarket.
The choice of William Buick, the son of Justify – who cost €2.3million at the breeze-up sales in May last year – was ridden confidently by the Godolphin number one, with Kieran Shoemark never far behind on the John and Thady Gosden-trained Craven scorer Field Of Gold, as they raced from stalls 11 and 10 respectively.
Shoemark was still motionless as Buick was urging his mount to quicken entering the dip, where Ruling Court showed a willing response to soon head the Classic field and join stablemate Shadow Of Light, who had emerged as a real danger from those who started on the far side.
Ruling Court’s stamina came to the fore as he knuckled down to fight his Dewhurst-winning stablemate in the closing stages and having beaten off that rival and Mickael Barzalona, he kept on strongly as Field Of Gold came home strongly to get within half a length of the 9-2 scorer.
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Appleby – who struck with Notable Speech 12 months ago – said: “John Gosden’s horse looked great, I thought, and the way he won the Craven he was the horse we all had to beat, and it’s been hard for William – it was a tough call to get off a champion two-year-old [Shadow Of Light], but we all got our heads together and hopefully got the right people on the right horses.
“Everyone had their chance in the dip to come and have a crack at it and obviously William got a nice clear run. I was delighted also with Shadow Of Light and I thought at one stage it would be a good match race going on here.
“John’s horse as expected was always going to come to the party late on and he put it up to Ruling Court, but it was a great ride from William and he’s a very nice horse.”
Coral cut Ruling Court to 5-1 for the Derby on the back of his Newmarket display, with Appleby now set to discuss an Epsom tilt with the Godolphin team having opened his Classic account for the new campaign.
He said: “You could see him as a Derby horse and that’s what we had our minds set on in the winter. There will be nice healthy discussions on Derby plans.
“Ruling Court has been an exciting horse since we purchased him. We’ll let the dust settle and enjoy the moment and then we’ll start to map out the rest of the year out from there.
“You enjoy these days and learn to enjoy them because they’re special. You can go through the season’s highs and lows and I’ve tried to teach myself to sit back and enjoy it sometimes.”
Having made the correct call by electing to ride Ruling Court, Buick was thrilled to win the opening Classic of the year for the second year running and has no doubts about the colt’s suitability for Epsom.
“We had a very high opinion of this horse last year and he came into the winter and was always going to run in Dubai in the Jumeirah Guineas and he put up an amazing performance,” Buick said.
“He gave me something to think about on the way back from Dubai that night. I knew we had the Dewhurst winner in the stable as well, so I’ve been thinking a lot for the last however many months.
“He lengthened all the way to the line, he looks like a horse who could get further in time, he’s got a huge engine and that was only his fourth run. It’s unbelievable.
“I think it would be hard not to think about the Derby strongly – that’s what everyone wants. If you think a horse is going to stay, the Guineas is always a good marker and a good trial.
“Before Masar won the Derby he was third in the Guineas. This horse has won the Guineas and is going to get further. You don’t quite know whether he’s going to get a mile-and-a-half, but you’d feel a mile-and-a-quarter is within his grasp and the last furlong and a half at Epsom is when you’ll find out.”
